![Francisco de Garay to Ochoa de Isasaga in the Casa de Contratacion de Indias in Seville](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Francisco_de_Garay_to_Ochoa_de_Isasaga_in_the_Casa_de_Contratacion_de_Indias_in_Seville.png)
Francisco de Garay (1475 in
Sopuerta
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, blank_info_sec1 = BasqueSpanish
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,
Biscay
Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao.
B ...
– 1523) was a Spanish
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
conquistador. He was a companion to
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
* lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo
* es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón
* pt, Cristóvão Colombo
* ca, Cristòfor (or )
* la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
on his
second voyage to the New World and arrived in
Hispaniola in 1493. Here he attracted attention when he encountered a large
gold nugget
:''"Gold nugget" may also refer to the catfish Baryancistrus xanthellus or the mango cultivar Gold Nugget.''
A gold nugget is a naturally occurring piece of native gold. Watercourses often concentrate nuggets and finer gold in placers. Nuggets ...
worth four thousand pesos.
[Chipman, Donald E., Nuno de Guzman and the Province of Panuco in New Spain, 1518-1533. Glendale, Calif.: Arthur H. Clark Co., 1967. p. 46] In 1496, Miguel Diaz and Francisco de Garay found gold nuggets along the
Haina River
The Haina River is a river of the Dominican Republic. It is located on the oriental limit of hydrographic district of Azua, Baní, and San Cristóbal.
In 1496, according to Floyd, "Miguel Diaz and Francisco de Garay, working their way down the ...
.
Early life
Garay was born in the Garay tower in
Sopuerta
, population_note =
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, blank_info_sec1 = BasqueSpanish
, timezone = CET
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, in the county of
Encartaciones
Enkarterri ( Spanish: ''Las Encartaciones'') is a comarca of the province of Biscay, in the Basque Country, Spain. It is one of the seven ''eskualdeak/comarcas'' or districts that make up the province of Biscay. Its administrative centre is Balma ...
located in the province of
Biscay
Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao.
B ...
.
Jamaica
From 1514 to 1523, Garay served as Royal Governor of
Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...
, now
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
(
Governor of Jamaica). As a Governor of Santiago he was accused of committing genocide of the island's indigenous population whom he enslaved and sent to work in the gold mines of
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
. Writing in 1516,
Bartolomé de Las Casas
Bartolomé de las Casas, OP ( ; ; 11 November 1484 – 18 July 1566) was a 16th-century Spanish landowner, friar, priest, and bishop, famed as a historian and social reformer. He arrived in Hispaniola as a layman then became a Dominican friar ...
accused him of being responsible for the great decline of the indigenous population. By 1519, the original population of Jamaica was almost eradicated. He also raised pigs during his governorship, at one point employing five thousand indigenous to herd his swine.
Expeditions
Garay sent several expeditions to explore, map and claim lands along the shores of what is now the
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...
from present day
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
to
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. In 1519 Garay sent an expedition under
Alonso Álvarez de Pineda
Alonso Álvarez de Piñeda (; 1494–1520) was a Spanish conquistador and cartographer who was the first to prove the insularity of the Gulf of Mexico by sailing around its coast. In doing so he created the first map to depict what is now Texas an ...
to map the coast between Florida and the northern limit of the lands visited by
Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar.
[Diaz, B., 1963, The Conquest of New Spain, London: Penguin Books, ] The
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...
was shown on the maps as ''Rio del Espiritu Santo'' (''River of the
Holy Spirit'').
In 1523, Garay led a 600-man expedition to found a colony on the
Panuco River Panuco may refer to:
;Places
* Pánuco (disambiguation), a name related to several places in Mexico
;Ships
* USS ''Panuco'' (ID-1533), a United States Navy cargo ship in commission from 1918 to 1919
{{disambig ...
near present-day
Tampico
Tampico is a city and port in the southeastern part of the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is located on the north bank of the Pánuco River, about inland from the Gulf of Mexico, and directly north of the state of Veracruz. Tampico is the fifth ...
. However, he landed by mistake 100 miles north at the mouth of the
Soto La Marina River which he called the River of Palms (Rio de las Palmas). He reconnoitered by sending a small boat upriver about 25 miles, probably reaching the site of the present day city of
Soto la Marina Soto la Marina is a town in Soto la Marina Municipality located in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. It was directly hit by Hurricane Alex in 2010. It is located on the banks of the Soto la Marina river, just up river from the small ocean port of L ...
. The explorers found 40 Indian encampments along the river, indicating a large population, although the Indians apparently did not practice agriculture. The Indians plied the river in canoes and, although initially friendly, became hostile. Realizing that the river was not the Pánuco, Garay ordered an overland march southward to the Panuco.
[Salinas, Martin ''Indians of the Rio Grande Delta'' Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990, pp. 23, 73]
Garay's efforts to found a colony led him into legal conflict with
Hernán Cortés.
While in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
negotiating with Cortés, he became ill and died on December 27, 1523.
References
* Eugenio Del Hoyo; ''Historia del El Nuevo Reino De Leon (1577-1723)''
Bibliography
*
*
*
External links
Texas State Historical Association (TSHA): Francisco de Garay biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garay, Francisco de
Basque conquistadors
Spanish explorers
Spanish colonial governors and administrators
People of the Spanish colonial Americas
People of New Spain
Colony of Santiago
16th-century Spanish people
1475 births
1523 deaths
History of Hispaniola
Spanish West Indies
People from Enkarterri